


place your bets and roll the dice

by a_shiny_mess (magpie4shinies)



Series: Jangobi Week 2021 [2]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen, I would really love to write a story where Jango and Obi-Wan do more than exist in the same room tbh, Jangobi Week 2021, M/M, Plo Koon is here because I love him and he loves his clone sons, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, and we live to see it, maybe tomorrow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:33:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29170401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magpie4shinies/pseuds/a_shiny_mess
Summary: An impossible gift filled with awful truths might lead the way to a better future.
Relationships: Jango Fett & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jango Fett/Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Series: Jangobi Week 2021 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2139039
Comments: 10
Kudos: 176
Collections: Jangobi Week





	place your bets and roll the dice

**Author's Note:**

> Day two prompt: time travel

As Anakin pressed the bounty hunter for the details of her arrangement in the contract on senator Amidala’s life, Obi-Wan focused on the dull wrong feeling from the force that he’d been feeling since the changeling -- assuming Anakin was correct -- had approached with murderous intent. She was far weaker in the Force than she should’ve been from the wound he’d dealt: lightsabers were self cauterizing. 

A flicker of an image filtered up: blighted wheat. Obi-Wan knew then, that the bounty hunter was gravely ill or had been poisoned. It was a miracle she’d gotten this far, frankly, from what Obi-Wan could now sense: perhaps her physiology and constant genetic shifts had delayed the poison? Something to note.

Her eyes shifted, the pupil fuzzed and the orbs glazed, and then...growing wider. There was a green hue fading in with growing intensity, and slits along her jaw and cheeks.

“Tell us now!”

“Anakin --” Obi-Want started, reaching out with the Force in an attempt to capture what he now realized were the sputtering embers of her life, and found himself too clumsy, too slow. 

“It was a b…” Her hold on her transformation faded with the spark of life, and her voice trailed off in the last instant before the guttering ember of her Force presence faded completely. 

“No!” Anakin leaned in, a hand raising to the assassin’s chest, concern and panic flaring equally brightly in his presence.

“Anakin!” Obi-Wan barked, catching his apprentice’s wrist. “She’s gone. Can’t you feel it?”

Anakin jerked, then went still. The burn of his frustration arched, then faded into the Force. 

Obi-Wan dipped his head encouragingly and Anakin took a breath. “Ah, I...see that now.”

Obi-Wan frowned gently, squeezing Anakin’s hand. “You must be mindful, Anakin.”

Anakin ducked his head. “Yes, master.”

He was closed off to Obi-Wan, shields raised tightly, and he gave the moment up with the idea of regrouping later. He’d found, with Anakin, discretion truly was the better part of valor. If he gave him time to sooth his wounds, he’d relax enough to process Obi-Wan’s words for their intent (instruction) rather than the admonishment he always initially assumed.

“Let’s...search them, I suppose.” He murmured, unable to resist squeezing Anakin’s hand gently once more before releasing it. 

The stony silence of Anakin’s shields remained, but his shoulders eased a fraction. “You think she might have been so careless to leave evidence?”

Obi-Wan sighed. “Well, it isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that things might go our way for once, is it?”

Anakin’s dubious expression spoke in his silence and Obi-Wan sighed, rubbing his forehead. “We’ll need to call PlanSec as well.” 

“That I can do, Master.” 

~

Mace Windu was an old guard as far as juggling incongruous turning points the likes of which Obi-Wan frequently encountered on assignment, but Obi-Wan had never seen an expression quite this harried. “And you just found this datachip on the changeling’s body?”

Obi-Wan tucked his hands into the sleeves of his robe and gripped his elbows as he forcibly maintained his expression. “That’s correct.”

Yoda eyed Obi-Wan shrewdly. “And believe, you do, that some truth there could be in the details you have already uncovered.”

Obi-Wan centered himself in the moment and released his anxieties to the Force. How the kriff had Qui-Gon always made this look so easy? Obi-Wan knew for a fact the man had actually enjoyed the verbal sparring sessions, on occasion. “I believe that, should we ignore the few claims our slicers have already cracked, and they prove to be true...the results, masters, could be catastrophic.”

“A ruse, this may be,” Yoda cautioned, but when Obi-Wan dipped his head, he sighed deeply. “But agree with you, I do.”

“And there is still the matter of the person who hired this assassin,” Mace murmured. “Unless we uncovered any information which contradicts what we’ve learned so far, perhaps it would be best.”

A round of significant looks made their way through the council chamber, but neither Obi-Wan nor, from the confusion he could sense through their bond, Anakin had a proper context for the statement. “I’m sorry, master. What would be best?”

“You will go to Kamino, as indicated on the chip,” Mace murmured. “Remaining in contact with us, of course.”

“Ah. And...the senator?” Obi-Wan didn’t so much as glance at Anakin and hoped the boy understood how grateful he should be. Qui-Gon would never have let him get away with such an obvious infatuation without astronomically more teasing than he’d given thus far. 

“Endangered, she remains,” Yoda hummed. “I see many currents in the Force around this decision.”

Windu stood, one hand raised to his brow. “As do I. Unfortunately. Since I can’t seem to escape them, perhaps confronting them directly will allow me some peace. Padawan Skywalker.”

Anakin took a startled step forward. “Master?” He ducked a quick glance at Obi-Wan, who could only shove a wave of general support through their connection as he also felt as though he were missing pieces. 

“Your master must proceed to Kamino, so I will assist you in your work guarding the Senator.”

“I don’t think I need help…?” Anakin said slowly. “I mean, not if we can convince her to get off planet until the heat dies. Which, I guess, would be pretty hard, considering her position…”

Mace waved a hand. “I will take point temporarily while your master investigates the potential source of the assassins. We will remain on Coruscant, if that is the Senator’s wish, and you will rejoin the detail upon your return.”

“I am to accompany Master Obi-Wan, then?” Anakin stepped forward.

Another heavy look, then a small shake of his head before Mace continued. “There is some evidence we’ve been able to verify as true. If the rest is accurate as well, you will have little time.”

Anakin hadn’t had the chance to dig into any of the data on the chip they’d lifted. “Sir?”

“You will make your way to Tattooine and liaise with a Master already planetside. Master Diath will be able to provide details regarding the current powers in play.”

“Rescue?” Anakin frowned. “Who could we be going after on  _ Tattooine _ ?”

If Obi-Wan didn’t know better, he’d swear Mace looked uncomfortable and...guilt ridden. “It appears that your mother may be in danger. We became aware moments before this session began as our agents confirmed enough of the data to be confident that the potential bears investigation.”

“My m-mother?” Anakin whispered, a deep slash of  _ fear _ souring the bright light of his presence in his bond temporarily. 

Dipping his head sadly, Mace continued. “We sent orders to have two ships readied before this meeting began: Obi-Wan will take one on his mission, and you the other. Master Diath was on Tattooine on separate business, but has agreed to delay his activities until he can aid you in the investigation into your mother’s state, and assist you in rescuing her if need be.”

Anakin’s shields may have been fortresses to the greater Order, but trembled against the gentle wave of Obi-Wan’s concern. 

_ my mother i should have realized what about padme oh it was true how could i no it was true what if she’s already  _

Obi-Wan gently pulled what he could of the fear into himself and released it.  _ I’m sorry your mother may be in danger, Anakin, but you have a course of action to pursue that won’t be served by your fears.  _

A moment wavered between them, hope and guilt and resentment flavoring the tangled ball of emotion Anakin regularly threw at Obi-Wan and Obi-Wan turned to Anakin and caught his eye.  _ If you want to be of best use to her, now is the time to truly release your fear and embrace the Force as your guide. Set your concerns for the Senator aside: she is the Council’s concern now, as your mother is yours. What is the best chance to save her? _

Anakin’s presence firmed in the force, and eased as he took a breath and centered himself. “Thank you, Master. You’re right...and I have to go.”

“Finished this meeting is, then,” Yoda shifted his grip on his gimmer stick. “Assignments, we all have. May the Force be with us.”

“May the Force be with us,” Obi-Wan echoed instinctively, wondering what Yoda’s task in this was to be, before he found himself withdrawing to the hall with Anakin -- and Plo Koon, as it so happened. 

“I will be joining you, Master Kenobi,” Plo said mildly. “If things are as described, it would be best for a Council Member to enjoy the first contact proper with the planet’s inhabitants.”

Obi-Wan considered everything that had just occurred in the last several hours: they’d found a datachip that contained dire predictions of the future, Anakin was being sent to Tattooine to rescue his mother, and at least two councilors would be taking active missions: Mace Windu was taking on an apparently simple bodyguard mission, and Plo Koon to join Obi-Wan on a trip to confront a Mandalorian bounty hunter known for his lethal approach to Jedi...

Who knew what Yoda might be up to, based on the data contained in the chip? And all of this before getting to sleep from the fight and chase the night prior. 

It had certainly been an interesting half rotation.

~

Kamino was where the data had said it would be, and where the calculations had approximately placed the planet from the evidence of gravity in the system beyond the specific coordinates that had been deleted from the archive.

As Obi-Wan left the protection of his ship and immediately felt the whip of saltwater spray and stinging rain on his hands before he tucked them into his robes and sped his steps to the entry of the facility. 

There was an odd ring in the Force unlike any water planet Obi-Wan had been to previously. It was almost harmony, and there was much potential, but something about it was...off. 

Possibly the idea of a million cloned sentients enslaved to fight for the glory of the Republic was coloring his interpretation.

_ Focus on the moment _ , Qui-Gon’s memory chided him as he and Master Koon passed from the exposed platform to the hall where a tall being approached from the right. They matched the anecdotal description of the Kaminoan people he was able to get from Dex before their ship left.

Obi-Wan lowered his hood, stretching his feelings out even as he processed the faint hum of mechanics. The Kaminoan felt cool and quiet in the force, a still body of water as different from the fury raging just beyond the door as could be. 

“Master Jedi. The prime minister is expecting you.”

Obi-Wan shared a look with Master Plo and then dipped his head as Plo stepped forward. “Then we should proceed.”

“This way. We are very close.”

Plo’s mental presence trickled along the minor bond established over shared meditations on the trip:  _ I shall create an opportunity for you to break away as we discussed. _

“I must say, the prime minister was pleased to receive word of your landing request. After all these years, we were beginning to think you weren't coming.”

_ I will seek out Fett and attempt to verify his true stance _ , Obi-Wan returned, straightening the cuffs of his tunic and tugging his sleeves down to finish covering his wrists. 

_ I have every faith,  _ Plo sent calmly, then turned his focus outward as they followed their guide from the disconcerting monochromatic hallway to a similarly lit room. Another kaminoan, one with a high fin, waited for them there. 

Their guide came to a stop. “May i present Lama Su, prime minister of Kamino. And these are master Jedi…”

“May I introduce Honored Councilor Plo Koon,” Obi-Wan gestured to Plo, who dipped his head and shoulders in an appropriate bow which Obi-Wan mimicked. “And I am Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

Lama Su dipped their head and shoulders. “Very good. I trust you will both enjoy your stay.” Three hollowed pods lowered to the correct sitting height for all three of them and Lama Su waved to them. “Please, sit. And then to business. You will be delighted to hear that we are on schedule. Two-hundred thousand units are ready, with a million more well on the way.”

It was true after all. Obi-Wan took his deep disappointment in one of the most venerated former masters of the Jedi Order and tucked it away. 

“Efficiency is appreciated,” Plo said placidly, hands folded in his lap calmly. 

“Indeed,” Lama Su’s voice seemed to approve of the concept, though Obi-Wan couldn’t get a read on them in the Force. 

“Before we continue, I must make you aware of some updates.” Plo interjected then. “Master Sifo-Dyas passed into the Force ten years ago -- shortly after finalizing the contract with your people, we believe.”

“Oh. I’m so sorry to hear that.” Lama Su paused, broadcasting no sadness over the matter. “But I’m sure he would have been proud of the army we built for him.”

“Doubtless,” Plo replied. “To that end, we have arrived to inspect progress and meet the men.”

“The...men.”

“Indeed.” Plo returned calmly. “To maintain our efficiency, I would appreciate a tour of the facilities and introductions to the trainers, as well as the oldest of our new...army. Master Kenobi, meanwhile, can review some questions we have with the progenitor.”

“I see.”

Plo’s eyes crinkled with his pleasant, terrifying smile. 

Lama Su’s Force presence shivered. To their credit, it didn’t reflect in their voice. “Of course. Taun We, if you could please take Master Kenobi on his task? I will escort Master Koon.”

“Of course.” Their guide, Taun We, bowered shallowly and then stepped to the side for Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan pushed himself to his feet and bowed to prime minister Lama Su and Plo before following Taun We back out of the room. 

The walk was silent. Obi-Wan followed a half step behind Taun We and continued a shallow scan of their surroundings. There were many life forms throughout the complex, but it seemed that their path had been cleared of unauthorized personnel, as they crossed paths with only a handful of Kaminoans before they finally slowed to a stop before one of the doors that looked the same as every other one to Obi-Wan’s limited eyesight. 

Taun We pressed the call button to the left of the door. After a moment, the panels separated and withdrew into the wall with a faint hiss, revealing a humanoid man with tan skin and close cropped black hair slicked back along his skull, stubble blurring the edge of a firm jaw. His eyes were brown edging into amber close to the pupils. 

Those eyes were currently boring into Obi-Wan with an intensity he might have expected if the accompanying Force presence were angry, which would have fit the limited history he’d managed to collect on Fett before the trip.

“Ah, Jango.” Taun We dipped their head. “Excellent. This is Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. He and Councilor Plo Koon are here to review our progress, and Master Kenobi had some questions for you.”

“Of course.” Jango held Obi-Wan’s eyes for a long moment, then turned to Tan We and smiled. “You must be busy. If all Kenobi has are some questions, medical history and training? I think we can cover that on our own.”

Tan We hesitated. There was no outward sign beyond the brief silence, but the confusion and faint trepidation flickered through the Force like a ripple in a placid lake. “Very well. Master Kenobi.”

Obi-Wan bowed. “Tan We. Thank you for your care.”

Jango stood to the side as Tan We retreated back down the hall. Obi-Wan tucked his hands into the sleeves of his robes, locking his grip on each of his forearms.

The door hissed closed behind him and Obi-Wan proceeded further into the small quarters, trying to ignore the tension of having a bounty hunter as deadly as Jango Fett at his back. The room was almost as impersonal as the meeting area with the Prime Minister, though Obi-Wan picked out a few small smudges and a slip of cloth peeking out from a bench that said  _ someone lives here _ . 

It was oddly comforting as Jango moved around him when there was room and set a cube on the table in the room. Obi-Wan arched a brow and Jango’s brow furrowed faintly. “Jammer. My son had some concerns recently...and some suggestions on opsec.”

“Your son?” Obi-Wan repeated, recalling the word  _ unaltered  _ and the nature of the favor Jango had asked for his erstwhile service to the Republic. 

“Boba,” Jango called over his shoulder. “Jammer’s down and Kenobi’s here, like you said.”

A small boy with curly brown hair exited the bedroom at a fast walk. He wore a serious expression at odds with the baby fat clinging to his cheeks. “You’re early -- good. You got the message then.”

“Ah...” Obi-Wan shifted, glancing from Boba back to Jango, only to catch the tail end of an obvious assessment and realized that the last few days had thrown him so badly that he couldn’t even fully suppress the faint heat creeping over his cheeks. 

Jango caught his eye and, after a moment, smirked faintly. 


End file.
